Christmas with the Dogs
by GundamWingFanatic90
Summary: Starts out like this. 6 people are staying in a mountain house over Christmas. What happens when a blizzard gets them stranded there? ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!
1. The Predicament

Hey, again! This was a random thing my cousin and I came up with the last time I was at her house. I volunteered to write it, but it's for her Christmas present. I hope you like it!

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. Neither do I own Final Fantasy 7 or The Legend of Dragoon. I only own the Elves, Altariel and Rána (Think Lord of the Rings Elves). My cousin, Inuyasha Kagome 2gether, owns the character Sakura, the hanyou. There, I think I've got it all down. Anyways, on with the fic, and enjoy!! _Namarië_!!

**_Christmas with the Dogs_**

Chapter 1: The Predicament

That day almost started out like any other. Altariel and Cloud arose from their separate bedrooms and went downstairs, as usual, silent so as not to wake the other inhabitants of the house. Inu Yasha, Kagome, Kurama, and Sakura would not wake for a couple more hours, as always, so Altariel walked silently down the stairs, her long, chocolate-black hair seeming to float behind her.

Altariel was an Elf: her ancestors came from a place called Middle-Earth. She had long, chocolate-brown hair that was almost black, and warm, loving eyes that were the same color. Her temper, however, was quite fiery, as she had been raised with an Irish family since they had found her on their doorstep one morning. Her real parents had been killed by an evil being named Naraku, or so said the letter found with her. Altariel herself had only learned of her true heritage when she looked to be about 15 years old, but her true age was undetermined, as Elves can live for millennia, and they don't appear to age after a certain point. They appear to be babies until they turn about 100, and then they start growing like a human child, so it was very, very possible that Altariel was actually 117 years old. So, being an Elf, she had inherited all the abilities of her ancestors. She glowed faintly, and she had enhanced eyesight and hearing, and she was so light that she didn't make any noise when she walked. She could walk or run for great distances without tiring thanks to the Elven endurance, and she could also talk to trees. However, she was a human at heart, an Irish one at that, and she made friends with mortals. She knew this would hurt her deeply some day and she would fade away after that, but at least she could live life to its fullest while her friends and family were still around. She was human at heart.

Cloud was a man from a world called Gaia. He had blond hair that, strangely, gathered into sharp spikes that defied gravity. His eyes glowed a strange bluish-green, and he always toted around a huge sword. The sword was longer than he was tall, about 6 feet, and he wielded it with ease, having trained with it for the past 7 years. His real age was about 21, but his body had reverted back to about 17 years of age when he had accidentally come to this world. He was still trying to find a way back to Gaia, but for the moment, he was taking a bit of a break to hang out with his new friends and forget about his troubles. He'd only been on Earth for about 10 months up till now, but he had met Altariel and the rest of the gang about 6 months ago. He was usually quite cold towards people, but when it came to his friends, he warmed up and was a fairly good friend. He was quite loyal, but seemed to carry a burden on his shoulders that wasn't his sword. You could see it in his eyes.

Altariel walked into the kitchen and pulled out a kettle and teabags, and her favorite Harry Potter mug and another. Setting the mugs on the counter, she held the kettle under the faucet and turned on the water, filling the kettle up. Cloud came up next to her and put the teabags in their individual mugs, and then he gave Altariel a quick 'good morning' hug and sat down at the kitchen table. He looked to be deep in thought as Altariel placed the kettle on the electric stove and turned on the power to 'high', and she watched him, wondering what he was thinking about. He often seemed to have these spells of thoughtfulness, as if there was something that kept making him withdraw into his mind. She walked over to the table as soon as the water was secure on the stove, and sat down next to him.

"Is there anything you want to talk about, Cloud?" she asked softly, leaning forward to try to see his face better. He shook his head, looking at her with a smile.

"No. I'm ok, I'm just trying to think about what to do today." he replied, putting an arm around her shoulders. She smiled and put an arm around his waist, leaning in and laying her head on his shoulder. They stayed like this for a few moments before Altariel's acute Elven hearing picked up the first hints of the kettle whistling and she got up, chuckling, to take the water off. Seeing as it was not completely boiling yet, she took the whistle off of the kettle and came back to sit next to Cloud, who was back to staring off into space again. She waited a few moments until steam started to billow out of the mouth of the kettle and then got up and poured the boiling water into the mugs. She put the kettle back on the stove and turned off the power, and then brought the mugs back to the table to steep for about 5 minutes. She chuckled when she saw Cloud still staring off into space, and waved her hand in front of his face.

"Hello, Earth to Cloud! Come in, Cloud! Over!" she said playfully as he snapped out of it. "Didja get hit by a whammy?" He looked over at her and blinked sleepily.

"Yep." came his one-word reply. She chuckled.

"You're not much of a morning person, are you?" she asked. He looked at her.

"Actually, I usually am. Back in Midgar- that's on Gaia- my, uh… well, to tell the truth, she was my girlfriend before I got here." he started, and Altariel nodded, smiling one of her genuine smiles, the kind she used quite often. "Well, she and I ran a bar together, called the Tifa's 7th Heaven. We had to get up at about 5:30 each morning to get ready for the day, so I'm pretty used to it."

"Then what's the matter? Why aren't you awake like you usually are?" Cloud's eyes turned haunted, and he looked down at his hands on the table.

"I had a nightmare. That's all." he replied shortly. He had turned cold again, which was quite unlike him, causing Altariel to worry deeply.

"Cloud, that doesn't sound like just a nightmare. What happened in it?" He looked at her again for a second before turning his gaze back to his hands. After a moment, it didn't seem like he was going to tell, so Altariel got up and went to get out some sugar and milk, but she froze when she heard Cloud's voice.

"It was something from my past." he said, so softly that even her Elven hearing nearly didn't catch it. She whipped around, looking at the man, and quickly grabbed the sugar, milk, and two spoons before coming back to the table. She took out the teabags as Cloud told her about his nightmare, and she poured the milk in and put about 3 spoons of sugar in each mug as she listened, stirring it up at the same time. By the time she had finished with the tea, he had come to the end of his story, and fell silent.

"Damn, Cloud…" she said, her eyes wide as she slowly shook her head, looking down at him.

"This isn't the first time, either. I've been having it for 3 days, now." he murmured, and she gaped at him.

"WTF?! Why the hell didn't you tell anyone before?!" she exclaimed. He looked up, scowling slightly at her.

"Do you think I'd want to relive it in detail?" he asked quietly, and she looked taken aback as she blinked at him. "Knowing all of the others, they'd probably want me to retell it blow for blow, and in all the detail I can use." She made a thoughtful face and tipped her head from side to side in a 'You've got a point' kind of gesture.

"You've got a point there…" she murmured. She looked down at him, a soft smile on her lips. "Don't worry. I'm sure it'll be gone by tomorrow. Besides, today's Christmas Eve. We can't have someone having bad dreams tonight!" Her smile erupted into a full-blown grin that made even him smile slightly.

"Thanks, 'Tar." he said quietly. She nodded.

"No problem. If you ever need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on, I'll be there for you." she said. A ghost of a smile graced his face, but then it faded and an almost pained look came to his eyes. She gave him a concerned smile, and then took her tea into the other room to watch the news. He heard the TV click on and a few seconds later, the voice of the weather man.

"…the blizzard is moving south quite rapidly, and is expected to stop over the mountain area." the weather man was saying. Cloud heard Altariel murmur something incoherent as he slowly drank his tea, the weather man talking in the background. Suddenly, Altariel shouted, causing him to choke on his tea so bad that it came squirting out of his nose. As soon as he was done coughing it all up, he heard her shouting. She was cussing so bad that she could make a sailor blush 10 times over, and in between the curse words, she was hollering praises to God above and singing 'White Christmas'. He grabbed a towel and held it to his face over his nose and mouth, muttering a few choice curses to himself, and walked into the living room with a glare on his face. Altariel was dancing around like a ballerina mixed with a rapper and a break dancer, and she was whooping and hollering like her 150th birthday had come early.

"IIIII'M DREAMING OF A WHIIIIIITE… **CHRISTMAS**!!!!" she shouted. She danced about as she shouted this, and he rolled his eyes.

"WHAT IN **_HELL'S_** NAME ARE YOU SHOUTING ABOUT, ALTARIEL?!" came an angry voice from the stairwell, and a second later, Sakura, Inu Yasha, Kagome, and Kurama appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"BLIZZARD!! BLIZZARD!!" cried Altariel in a sing-song voice. "WE'RE GONNA BE STRANDED HERE UNTIL THE SNOW MELTS!!" The four of them looked at each other in bewilderment as Cloud just shook his head in exasperation, Altariel doing cartwheels in the large living room in the background.

* * *

Whew! Finally! Well, that's the end of Ch.1. Hope you liked it! I'll try to update it a.s.a.p., but I can't make any gurantees. Anyways, please R&R! Thanks!


	2. How to Deal with a Hyper Elf

Hiya! Sorry it took me so long to update. I've had a serious case of writer's block. **I NEED IDEAS!** Oh, well, I think I've got enough for at least this chappie. Ok, here we go!

L33tmansays woot: Thank you so much for reviewing, Ross! You're my first reviewer for this story. Um I looked on your bio, but I've never played Final Fantasy: The Crystal Chronicles, nor have I played FF: Tactics, so I didn't really read either one. I'll read them when I get the chance. Thanks again!

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Inu Yasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. Neither do I own Final Fantasy 7 or The Legend of Dragoon. I only own the Elves, Altariel and Rána (Think Lord of the Rings Elves). My cousin, Inuyasha Kagome 2gether, owns the character Sakura, the hanyou. There, I think I've got it all down. Anyways, on with the fic, and enjoy! _Namarië_!

* * *

_**Christmas with the Dogs**_

Chapter 2: How to Deal with a Hyper Elf

It'd already been about 3 hours since the fateful news forecast. The snowstorm had descended upon them about 5 moments after the announcement, and Altariel had long since been jumping up and down, running in circles, and generally being an all-around pest, much to the great vexation of the other 5 inhabitants of the cabin. Initially, Sakura had joined her cousin in the fun and games, but soon she had tired out as well.

Sakura was a dog hanyou, the sister of Inu Yasha. She had white hair and electric-purple eyes, and was 17 years of age. She had been raised by Altariel's adoptive aunt and uncle, also Irish. Therefore, she had a temper as well, though not nearly as scorching as her Elven cousin's. Being a hanyou, her senses of smell and hearing far surpassed those of her human companions'. She had claws and fangs, as well, but once a month, on the night of the full moon, she became a human, as all hanyous do.

As Sakura danced about with Altariel, a young man watched from the relative safety of the couch. His name was Suuichi Kurama.

Suuichi Kurama was a red-haired human with green eyes. He was quite gentle most of the time, but his calm, calculating exterior hid a ruthless warrior underneath. For inside his body lived the infamous Yoko Kurama, the bandit fox youkai. While Suuichi Kurama had had only 17 years to roam the planet, Yoko Kurama was over 300 years old, and was as wise and cunning as one could expect from a person his age. Even in the face of great adversity, Kurama was calm, cold, and calculating, possessing a power that could decimate most any opponent.

Inu Yasha and Kagome lingered in the kitchen with Cloud as they waited for the whirlwind of an Elf that was Altariel to die down. Even so, the chaos did not stop for nearly an hour.

Inu Yasha had white hair and golden-amber eyes. He possessed claws, fangs, and dog ears as well, being Sakura's older dog hanyou brother. He looked to be about 20 winters old, but if you'd known him for a little while, you'd know that he had been trapped to a tree for 50 years as well, so he was really around 70 years old. He and his girlfriend, Kikyo, had been deceived by an evil demon by the name of Naraku, the same Naraku that murdered Altariel's real parents, in order to get the Shikon no Tama, Jewel of Four Souls. 50 years later, Inu Yasha had been unsealed by Kagome, Kikyo's reincarnation, and then about a year after their initial meeting, the two of them and four others had finally destroyed Naraku once and for all. Now Inu Yasha lived in the modern era (at least for a little while), with his elder brother Sessomaru and his young charge, Rin.

Kagome had raven-black hair and brown eyes, and was around 17 years of age. She was a human until she was about 16 years old, when she and Inu Yasha had completed the Shikonno Tamaand she used it to make herself a dog hanyou like Inu Yasha so that she could be with him. She now had black dog ears and fangs and claws, and she also bore a mild temper, which came with being Kagome, and she still retained her Miko powers, from when she was a human. She had been with Inu Yasha when they defeated Naraku, and now she was with him nearly every day, though she went home to her family's shrine at night.

Altariel bounced around the living room again, her spirits soaring, but suddenly she stopped when the anchorman on the television spoke again.

"…however, the blizzard will most likely remain in the area for only a couple of hours, in the meanwhile depositing an approximated 4 feet of snow on the ground." the man said. "If I were anyone in the mountain region, I'd get out of there now before you can't get out at all. And if you aren't leaving, the phone lines are likely to be knocked out as well. Make any calls while you still can, folks! And now over to you, Joan…" Muttering some choice Elvish curses under her breath, Altariel flipped the TV off and went to the phone. Picking up the receiver, she dialed her home phone number, and was silent for several moments until someone picked up.

"Hello, mom?" she asked cheerlessly. "Yeah, it's Altariel… Yeah, we've got a full-blown icy hurricane out here… No, we won't be able to make it down in time for Christmas… Don't worry, we'll be fine… No, we'll just have to celebrate it together when we can get out of here and back-… No, back down the mountain… Alright, I'll talk to you later… Ok, I'll tell 'em… Ok, love you… Bye, mom…" Altariel sighed, hanging up the phone, and when she turned back to the others, she wasn't smiling anymore. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her cousin, a small, concerned smile on her lips.

"What's the matter, cuz?" she asked. Altariel shot her younger cousin a glare.

"You know as well as I do that I've spent every Christmas with my family, Sakura." the brown-haired Elf grumbled, her voice thick. "This'll be the first year ever without them around." Sakura waved her hand up and down.

"Calm down, Altariel." said Sakura. "And quit talking like they've died! Everything's going to be just fine." Altariel looked over at her cousin, and a small smile played with her lips.

"I guess you're right, Sakura." said she. "We'll just have a belated Christmas party with the whole family." She turned to the others and added, "You're all welcome to join us, of course." They all nodded, and smiled a bit.

"I'd be glad to meet your family, 'Tar!" said Kagome excitedly. Kurama nodded.

"Yes. I think I'd like to also." said the red-haired boy with a soft smile playing at his lips. "I think I'd like to meet your siblings." Altariel grinned wryly.

"Yeah, my little brother's pretty easy to get along with, it's my sister that I have trouble with." said the Elf. Cloud remained silent, and Inu Yasha stood broodingly off to the side, trying to keep up the 'tough guy' charade. However, the little silence was suddenly disturbed by the ringing of the doorbell.

"I'LL GET IT!" screamed Altariel, dashing to open the door, Cloud not far behind. What she saw when she opened the door were two human-like figures, but they were covered in snow, making it hard for her to tell. Quickly she grabbed the taller one, Cloud grabbing the shorter one, and together they managed to get the two people inside, into the relative warmth of the cabin.

* * *

The woman's mind was going blank, the coldness seeping into her bones, whereas it hardly seemed to affect her tall companion at all. In fact, the tall humanoid walking beside her wasn't really a companion, but seeing as they had both suddenly appeared in a mountainous region, they had banded together to hopefully find some kind of shelter. She glimpsed a dark shape through the whiteness of the blizzard, and began walking towards it- it couldn't do any harm, right? Her 'companion' followed along beside her, his lithe form moving with a catlike grace as he walked not through the snow but on top of it.

"What do you see?" asked the woman, glancing up at the other. He looked down at her.

"A cabin." came the reply. Even though he tried to hide it, the woman detected a slight waver in his voice, attesting that the cold was finally beginning to affect him as well. A few more minutes of walking, and the male was shivering just like her, his lips beginning to turn blue as the edges of her vision began to turn black. Finally they made it up to the door of the cabin, and pressed the small white button next to the passageway. A shout of,

"I'LL GET IT!" came from inside,and then the woman's hearing began to fade. Just as her knees gave out, the door opened and she felt a pair of warm arms encircling her, and she was carried inside. A few seconds later, the door closed, and she faintly registered someone shouting as a hand came to her face and brushed some of the snow off of it, effectively clearing her vision. Then she looked up into the face she had all but lost hope of ever seeing again.

"C-Cloud…?" whispered the woman as the last of her strength gave out and she fell into blackness.

* * *

Altariel watched from the doorway as Cloud sat, unmoving, next to her bed, which she had made him lay the strange woman on. He was in shock, she could tell, and though she had tried a couple of times to snap him out of it to come get something to eat, he had never moved, saying he wasn't hungry. Finally she moved towards him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at last, snapping out of his daze for the first time in the two hours since the woman had arrived, and looked up at the brown-haired she-Elf, a blank expression on his face.

"Cloud?" asked she. Her voice was quiet, so as to not startle him or the stranger, who stirred not, the hot water bottles around her cold body remaining in their rightful places. "Who is she?" He didn't reply for a second, turning his gaze back to the woman.

"It's Tifa." said he at long last. "I don't know how, but she's somehow come to this world." Altariel blinked several times. This woman was the Tifa she'd heard so much about? "So who's the other guy?" She blinked again before blushing.

"His name is Rána." answered the she-Elf. She had no idea why the heck she was turning red. "He's an Elf from Middle-Earth." Cloud blinked before looking up at her again.

"Middle-Earth? But didn't you say that the last of the Elves left Middle-Earth a long time ago?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yes. That's what's got me curious and concerned." she replied, her brow knitting. "If Tifa's here from Gaia, then how did she get here? And Rána doesn't know anything about the current world, so how did an Elf from the distant past seemingly get pulled forward in time a few thousand years?" She shook her head, and she shrugged before crossing her arms and resting them atop his spiky blonde head. "So, has there been any improvement in her condition?" Cloud shook his head.

"No, though her body temperature has risen considerably since the last time I checked." he replied, and then sighed. "I almost wish she'd wake up so that we can find out how she got here." Altariel chuckled lightly. He glanced up at her weirdly, one eyebrow raised questioningly as her arms slid down to rest around his shoulders.

"Oh, come on, Cloud." she said teasingly, a sly smile coming to her lips. "You know it's just 'cause you want to talk to her. Don't think I'm oblivious to the way you sound when you tell me stories about her. Your eyes go all misty, and your voice takes on a dreamy tone, and you get this far-away look in your gaze. Admit it, you're completely in love with this girl!" Cloud frowned indignantly as his cheeks turned red, blazing with embarrassment.

"H-Hey!" he exclaimed defensively. "I do not get like that!"

"Uh-huh, sure." she teased. "The others can testify that what I'm saying is true! Besides, you know as well as any of them that I can read people's faces like a book! You're talking to the master of people-reading, here!" He huffed, and turned his gaze back down to Tifa. All was silent for several moments, and then:

"Cloud?" Altariel just had to break the blessed silence. "You know I love you, right?" she asked. He blinked for the umpteenth time in 10 minutes.

"Yeah. I love you, too, 'Tar. Why?" He looked up at her, bewildered. She giggled.

"Good. Then you won't mind if I do… THIS!" she exclaimed, just before withdrew her arms and gave him the most humongous wedgie he had ever received. He stifled a yelp, but stood up and spun around, giving Altariel his patented 'CLOUD DEATH GLARE OF **DOOM**' as he gingerly pulled the wedgie out.

"'Tar…" he murmured dangerously.

"Yes?" she innocently replied. He balled his hands into fists.

"Three words: You'd. Better. Run." he growled, and then charged towards her. She shrieked and dashed out of the door, Cloud following closely behind, quickly formulating a strategy on what to do for his revenge. However, neither of them noticed the pair of tear-filled, wine-colored eyes that opened just as they exited the room. Tifa eased herself into a sitting position, and placed her forehead into her hand, supporting it with her elbow on her knee.

"He… has a girlfriend…?" she breathed as a couple of tears leaked out of her misty eyes to fall to the blanket spread across her lap. "Cloud…"

* * *

Well, that's it for the 2nd chapter of Christmas with the Dogs. If you haven't figured out the meaning for the title yet, it's because of Sakura and Inu Yasha. Sakura is my cousin's OC, and is a dog hanyou, like Inu. She's also Inu's sister. BTW, my cuz and I came up with the plot for this story together one time while I was at her house, so I used her version of herself and my version (which she used in some of her own stories) of myself, too. Hee hee hee. Well, please review! Tell me how I'm doing! 


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